I sat with a friend who was telling me how Israel executed his entire family, including his wife and children. He told me, "We were trapped in a house in northern Gaza. The army was announcing over loudspeakers that everyone inside should come out with their hands on their heads, and that the army wouldn't kill them." He said, "I didn't know what to do except leave. My family and I left the house one by one, with our hands on our heads. A soldier called us to stand against a wall. Suddenly, I heard gunfire, and I didn't wake up until I was in the hospital. I learned that they had executed my entire family. I was injured and bled for a long time, and I survived after ambulances arrived. One of the doctors told me that Israel had killed my entire family, including my mother, father, wife, and two children." He told me the story with eyes full of sorrow, pain, and tears. This is one of the testimonies of Israel's terrorism against families in Gaza.

From @WSJopinion: I was across the street on 9/11, and I’m grateful I survived. On my way in to work, I found myself breathing acrid smoke and taking cover under a utility van, writes @jasonrileywsj.

Recently, I realized how strong I've become. Life humbled me, broke me, taught me, and rebuilt me. I'm still learning, still growing, and still becoming. When I look back, I don't just see pain, mistakes, and heartbreak buh proof that I survived everything that was meant to break me. That's something I'll always be proud of. Pass me the blunt. Let me smoke and relax while I appreciate how far I've come. 🚬

personal rant warning. A couple days ago, I survived the worst non-travel travel day ever. 17 hours at the airport from 10AM-3AM. We boarded, pushed back, stopped at runway, back to gate, deplaned and delayed… TWICE. On 2 different planes, each suffering an unresolvable mystery mechanical issue. Only to be canceled. I stewed in anger but chose to let it go. What use was it to be angry? Those around me (who were similarly if not more upset) voiced the outrage in my behalf which proved futile. I took a breath and chose instead to make peace of the otherwise 💩 situation. Yesterday I dug around my bag looking for my AirPods. This is the truest form of insult to injury. 🪦 AirPods #2#

People think the secret to trading is learning more strategies, more macro, more charts. They’re wrong. The real breakthrough happens when you finally stop staring at candles and start staring at the broken parts of yourself. Your fear. Your ego. Your damn inner demon. I always tell friends, half-joking but also dead serious: you need to get liquidated 3 times before you ever become a profitable trader. Because “winning” isn’t making money. Winning is keeping that money next year without blowing yourself up again. I survived 3 near-death blows in crypto. After each shitshow I genuinely believed I finally figured it out. I told myself I was mature now, disciplined now, ready now. Then the market punched me in the face again and made it painfully obvious I wasn’t. I couldn’t keep the money because the weak, pathetic version of me was still breathing. And until the market beats those versions of you to death one by one, you will keep throwing your wins straight back into the fire. I didn’t made this up. Every field that studies human nature agrees on one thing. Psychology. Philosophy. Religion. They all say the old self must die. Jung calls it meeting your shadow. Nietzsche calls it killing the false you. Buddhism calls it ego-death. The Bible tells you to put off your old self and become new. Different languages, same truth. You have to die before you can actually live. In trading (and in life), “death” is moment you lose not just money but your ego. It’s the part that panics, chases, and lies to itself. “Rebirth” starts the moment you tear yourself apart and look at your own broken pieces from a third-person view. Your personality. Your strengths. Your weaknesses. Your desires. All the shit you’ve been too scared to look at when life was going well. It’s in that dark, cracked-open space where you finally start seeing what actually fits you. What you’re built for. What you truly want. What your life could be if you stopped lying to yourself. People say true happiness is when your talent, your interests and your effort finally point in the same direction. You can only find that direction after you’ve been cracked open. Most people never reach that point because they never break enough to see it.